Apparatus for the treatment of ores.



No. 677,614. Patented luly 2, |90I.

J. ARMSTRONG. v APPARATUS FOR THE TREATMENT 0F GRES.

(Application led Nov. 17, 1899.)

2 Sheets-Sheet l.

(llo Model.)

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No. 677,6l4. Patented luly 2, |90I. J. ARMSTRONG. APPARATUS FOB THETREATMENT 0F DRES.'

(Application led Nov. 17, 1899.)

(No Model.)

l' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN ARMSTRONG, OF EALIN G, ENGLAND.

APPARATUS FOR THE TREATMENT OF ORES.

SPECIFICATION forming oart of Letters Patent N0. 677,614, dated July 2,1901.

Application filed November 17, 1899-. Serial No. 737,345. (No model.)

T0 ctZZ whom it may concern.:

Beit known that I, JOHN ARMSTRONG, a subject of the Queen of GreatBritain, residing at Ealing, in the county of Middlesex, England, (whosepost-office address is Eden Hall, Montpelier road, Ealing, in the countyof Middlesex, England,) have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Apparatus for the Treatment and Reduction of Oxidized,Carbonated, or Combined Ores and in Obtaining vMetals Therefrom, ofwhich the following is a specification.

In reducing refractory ores by nascent sodium by heating said ores andin ainely-divided state intimately mixed with oxid or easily-reduciblesalt of sodium or potassium (such as carbonate) and carbon Ihave foundconsiderable difficulty arising through oxygen entering the furnacethrough the furnacedoor at the time of tapping, or through the grate atthe time of cleaning the same, or through the fire-hole door,or thecharging-door at the time of feeding in fuel or the charge. I have alsofound difficulty in working the invention through irregularity of depthof fuel on the furnace-grate. Further, as I use a charge highlydestructive to fire-bricks and in the pulverulent form Ifind when thecharge is poured into the furnace it iiies about for a few minutes indust, and this dust attacks the sides and roof of the furnace, rapidlyfluxing the same, and this flux rapidly attaches to itself still more ofthe dust, thus increasing the evil until in a very short time the entirewalls and roof become fused and fall.

Now this improvement has for its object the construction of the furnaceso that practically no uncombined oxygen shall come in contact with thematerials stillbeing operated upon on the hearth, the depth of the fuelis kept absolutely constant, and the charge is delivered onto the bed ofthe furnace without any chance of it flying about.

In eecting the objects already set forth I introduce the fuel to thegrate through a deep hopper above, having its bottom reaching down tothe ordinary surface of the fuel and its top closed bya lid. Thishopper. is replenished from time to time, and the material graduallysinks down onto the hearth as the fuel on the hearth burns away. I causethe products of combustion to pass overabridge and down on the otherside and admit the light pulverulent or granular charge through anothersimilar hopper to the one last devent the admission of air in adeleterious manner through the su mp the latter is specially designedfor this purpose, and the working door is placed close to thedraft-fines Q, both of which are beyond the su mp, whereby any air thatenters at the working door or sump will go out through the draft-fluewithout entering the furnace. Consequently every part of the working ofthe furnace can be carried on without the admission of uncombinedoxygen. This is an industrial result which, it is believed, has neverbeen obtained in any other reverberatory furnace, while at the same timethe Whole action of the furnace can be viewed from the working door. TheWorking door in other reverberatory furnaces being placed at'the sidecannot be opened without air at once striking the hearth. This would beof enormous injury to the Armstrong process set forth in the principalpatent.

This furnace is areverberatory furnace and is constructed as shown onthe accompanying drawings and may be constructed either double, as inFigures l and 2, or it may be singie, as in Fig. 3. The double furnaceis simply two single furnaces placed end to end, and for economy infiring one fire-grate is made common to the two furnaces.

Fig. l is a sectional plan. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section. Fig. 3 isthe section of a single furnace, and Fig. 4 is a cross-section throughthe tire-grate. Fig. 5 is a cross-section through the bed of thefurnace.

, This furnace consists of an iron-bottomed tank constructed with platesof iron joined together in any suitable Way by means of rivets orboltsand made practically Water-tight,

so as to avoid leakage of any materials that Ico tank is braced andstayed together with iron backstays .r and is also supported by bearersz e'. The walls of the furnace arc constructed in the ordinary way ofconstructing furnaces by means of refractory fire-clay, rebrick,chemical-resisting bricks, stone blocks, or other material suitable forthe substances that may be operated upon in the furnace. The walls arebuilt from the ground sufficiently high to receive the iron tank, asshown. In the interior of the tank is then commenced the formation ofthe floor of the furnace h h,

ness to give a firmand proper bed for the bricks or other materials.This bed is made in the form of an inverted arch on a troughshaped ironplate, so that when the Iioor of the furnace' gets hot any substance,such as lead, being smelted in it finding its way through the joints ofthe floor will not b e able to find a' way through the bottom. The bedis made with a slope toward the sump at the ends marked g g. These endsare also constructed and formed iu section, with an inverted arch forthe same purpose, as just described. A bridge or dam is also formed, ifnecessary, as shown at 'i i, with an opening at o o, which may be closedwith a block of refractory material if and when required. This bridgeholds the melted charge in the furnace until the block of refractoryinaterial in the opening o is removed. Vihen i this is done, the liquidportion of the charge runs through the opening o into the sump g. Thesump g is also made with a slope on the bottom toward the tapping-holeon one side of the furnace and is provided with another tapping-hole inthe other side of the furnace. These tapping-holes may be made ondifferent levels for the purpose of tapping oi' material from the sumpof diierent specitic gravities. The Walls of the furnace are continuedabove the hearth until the springing of the roof, which is formed in theshape of an arch. At the tiring end of the hearth is the fire-bridge,constructed as shown at d and hollow Where the iron tank is made to beturned'up to prevent leakage into the fire of the melted materials fromthe hearth. At the other end of the furnace is formed the working door,(marked p 19,) where the Workmen can command a view of the wholeinterior of the furnace and Where the working door may be left openWithout any fear of the atmosphere being admitted to the detriment ofany of the materials that may be vunder treatment in the interior of thefurnace. The draft iiues are constructed on right and left of thisworking door, as at q q,

which are regulated with proper dampers and are connected with achimney-shaft. If necessary, this working door may be closed with adoor.

The ire-grate is constructed either at one end,as in the single furnace,Fg. `3,'or as in the double furnace, Figs. 1 and 2., The single furnacemay have its bars fixed in one single row and inclined at an angle'tothe bridge, so that the fire-bars may be exposed to the end of thefurnace, which in this case would be open at the end, or the fire-barsmay be placed as shown at Fig. 4t, hung from each side on bearers t2 t2of the furnace and each bar crossed at the lower end upon a bearer f.These bearersY may be made hollow in the form of tubes and perforatedfor the purpose of conveying Water or steam under the grate. The centralbearer f is made movable, if necessary, and may be pulled out, so thatthe re may be dropped quite out, and all the bars will then hang downfrom the side bearers, as they are formed with a hooked end for thatpurpose. The object of crossing the bars is for the purpose of keepingthem the proper distance apart, which is a great consideration in allfurnaces, and as the ends project over the middle bearer f they areaccessible to the workmen to lift or shake, so that the fire is easierkept in a proper condition. The bars also may be made hollow, of tubesto convey water or steam. The side walls are in this part of the furnacecompletely taken away, as shown in Fig. 4 at a' d', and the upperportion of the wall is carried on bearers a2 d2, so that the Workman canmanipulate the bottom of the furnace and keep the walls d d of thefurnace, as well as the bars,quite free from accretion of clinkerwithoutdisturbing the fire, and by lifting up slightly one of the bars theclinker may be dropped with a very considerable saving of labor over thepresent system of ordinary liregrates. There is an inspection hole at nclosed with a door. The fuel is fed in at a through the hopper NV, whichis closed with a tight-fitting lid to keep in the gas that may beformed. This furnace is constructed as a gas-producing furnace, and maybe used as a pure reducing furnace simply Where the presence of freeoxygen or atmospheric air or carbonic acid would be injurious, or by anarrangement of placing air-tubes in the wall of the bridge, as shown atd d, it can be used as an ordinary reverberatory furnace, where thecarbonio monoxid will be burned in the passage over the bridge el.Should, however, the presence of the above gases or air be injurious,then the furnace is constructed as shown, but without the air-holes,when a per feet atmosphere of carbon menoxid will be produced.

In order to introduce a charge of a light or dusty nature into the'furnace, as well as for the purpose of effectually excluding theatmospheric air, I place tubes or other forms of such like apertures inthe roof or sides of the furnace, as is shown at b b, and made of anysuitable material, such as lire-clay, and which are so constructed thatthe materials are introduced into the bed of the furnace without theslightest trouble or dust. These IOO IIO

apertures or tubes may be provided with hoppers or close-tting lids w. Atray for water may be placed or a well may be sunk at Y in order toreceive the ash from the grate.

I declare that what I claim isl. In a reverberatory furnace, thecombination of a grate capable of holding a considerable thickness offuel, a charging-hopper for supplying fuel Without admission of air, abridge, a deep hopper having an opening at the bottom beyond the bridgefor the admission of the pulverulent charge with the smallestpracticable quantity of air, a working hearth, a sump beyond the workinghearth, draft-iues beyond the sump, and the working door beyond thedraft-dues whereby the air is prevented from. entering either at thesump, the Working hole, or the charging-orifice in deleteriousquantities, as any air seeking to enter the door escapes through thedraft-dues instead of entering the furnace in l a direction contrary tothe draft and uncombined oxygen is kept from entering at the grate orfuel-entrance.

2. In a reverberatory furnace, for use with a reducing-flame, a grate ofthe fire-chamber separated by a bridge from the furnace-chamber havingtransverse nre-bars supported alternately on each side and supported onand sloping downward. to a central longitudinal bar or support, and acentral deep and subits lower end dipping down to the normal level ofthe fuel on the grate, a bridge rising above the level of the bottom ofthe charginghopper, and a similar deep charging-hopper beyond the bridgefor admitting the pulverulent charge, whereby no further oxygen can passfrom the grate or either of the charginghoppers when the latter are keptfilled to the bed of the fu rnace,and the pulverulent charge isdelivered quietly to the level of the grate Without flying out as dust.

4. In a reverberatory furnace, the combination of the vhearth h, thebridge 1l having opening o, sump g beyond, the eXit-flues q beyond thesump, and the working door 19 located between and beyond the entrancesto said exit-fines, whereby the'working door can be kept open and allparts of the furnace stirred therefrom without danger of free oXygenenteringthe furnace.

5. In a reverberatory furnace the combination ot the grate e, the bridged, the hearth h beyond the bridge d, the bridge t' beyond the hearth h,and the sump g beyond the bridge i, draft-openings q beyond the bridgefi, and beyond theseand in line with the center line of the hearth theworking hole 19,substantially as described.

6. In a reducing-furnace, the combination of the furnace-grate havingtransverse bars e dipping down toward the center, the bridge d withvertical sides and the sides of the furnace cut away below the gratewhereby clinkering bars can be passed up through the grate to clear thebridge sides of clinker Without opening anydoor.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name, this 2d day ofNovember, 1899, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN ARMSTRONG.

Witnesses:

ALBERT C. E. HENRI, JonN MCLACHLAN.

